Is it better to know a computer language that few people know and become a specialist? Being such a specialist would bring you fewer opportunities yet it would yield better pay. On the other hand, is it better to know a much more commonly used computer language and have many opportunities that are offered to you? The downside to that of course would be that you would have more competitors and less negotiating power.

As for me, I take the latter of the two choices because I believe in having a resume that leads to the most opportunities.

This brings me to the next subject: What is the most marketable computer language you should know? The answer is JAVA.

Now I say this as a computer scientist who has switched jobs 3 times in the last 3 years and in that period of time I had participated in over 35 interviews. I realize in retrospect that my biggest resume flaw back then (and unfortunately my current biggest flaw as well) is that I do not know JAVA. There were countless interviews in which the interviewer would run down the list of requirements for the job and once they got to ‘Knowledge of JAVA language’ question, my response basically led to the interview being pretty much over.

I am not writing about how my lack of JAVA has hindered me from job opportunities to try and portray that JAVA is the best language out there or that it is the only one you need to know. As an entry level job seeker (less than 5 years experience) it is best to know as many languages as possible with one as your expertise. However, I have found that JAVA is always one of the top languages that is highly sought after by companies in the public and private sectors.

With that said what computer language do you think is the most marketable???

(side note: I am speaking of computer languages for software development not web development which is a whole different issue that I will address in a future blog.)

As a reminder if you have any questions or there are any issues you wish for me to discuss in one of my blogs you are more than welcome to e-mail me at: me_conwell@compsicstuff.com